User blog:Tieflingknight/Halloween 2011 Episode Overview
Okay, so I kind of figured the next blog entry we'd have would be more about Castiel for episode one. We finished episode one and got a date with Castiel a few weeks ago, but Tiefling hasn't been feeling up to typing up blog entries. I'm not going to push it, if you don't. Anyway, Aasimar here! Tiefling and I had recently saved up out action points over at Amour Sucre to buy a special episode ring. We chose the Halloween 2011 episode. Why? Well, why not? We were actually kind of curious about Dimitry. He caught our interest, and we had heard people talking about him being an actual vampire. That just seemed a little morbid for the normally cheery Amour Sucre/My Candy Love. So, with our 100 action points, we managed to buy the Strange Ring Halloween 2011. For the record, these are one time use items, and while the Halloween episode isn't easy to screw up, it is possible. I'll explain later. The basic plot of the Halloween episode starts when our Sucrette forgets her text books and goes back to the school to get them so she can study for a test. While she's on her way to the school, she somehow ends up in a cemetery outside of a ruined castle. The first character we meet is ChiNoMimi. She's dressed like Morrigan from ''Darkstalkers. ''No, I kid you not. Morrigan is probably the best known character from the franchise, so this shouldn't come as a surprise. For the record, I'm not entirely sure Dimitry was meant as an indirect reference to Demitri Maximoff from ''Darkstalkers. ''Demitri is kind of bad news, while Dimitry... you'll see. If anything, it would be an "in name only" reference. ChiNo tells us that the special episode is like playing a different game with the same character. Action points are disabled for the duration of the episode, and nothing will affect our affinities with the other guys. (This was great news for us, since we only had eight action points after buying the ring.) So, off our Sucrette went to check out the area. At first there are only three places open: the ruins, the cemetery, and the forest. You have to check all three places before you meet the next character. The Sucrette will have comments for each of these. By the way, Google Translate will mark the year the people died as 1958, when the tombstones clearly read 1858, which explains Dimitry's manner of dress. Google Translate is odd like that. The language of the game isn't that hard to understand without help. You just need to know key words (and verb conjugation). When you go back to the cemetery, you meet the next character: a little bat named Noir. We have no screen shot to give of little Noir, but she was adorable! You'll just have to see for yourself. For a little bat named "Black," she sure had a lot of pink in her design. Noir acts kind of like Iris for the episode. Your Sucrette will bounce ideas off her, and she'll provide exposition. She explains that there was a plague in the village that wiped out most of the villagers, and while most of the graves were in disarray, there was an isolated grave that belonged to a woman named Mary Magdalein (presumably after the religious figure). The Sucrette finally gets the courage to go through the forest to see the isolated grave. She comments about how the air seems heavy, if I remember correctly. Noir gives a little more background, and the two of you walk back to the cemetery together. She then decides to tell you that you are not alone there. There's a vampire in the area. The Sucrette goes back to the grave because she doesn't quite believe it, and that's when you finally meet Dimitry. The Sucrette mentions that he seems sad. His default image looks somewhat distant and melancholy. Noir does tell you the reason for this in the previous conversation. Anyway, Dimitry is somewhat sad but very easy to approach. The game gives you the chance to turn around quickly if you manage to make a mistake. I'll give specific intructions later, if you'd like, but in general, avoid stereotyping and be kind. The game wants you to succeed in getting the illustration and the outfit in celebration of Halloween. Dimitry asks to be left alone for awhile. As she walks away, the Sucrette notes that he seems sad and she wants to help him. So, she goes to Noir to ask for a little more information. She reinforces the idea that Dimitry only feeds from animals, so she suggests that you trap an animal. Dimitry is the second easiest guy to speak with in the entire game (the first being Ken) that we have met so far. We screwed up exactly once in our entire interaction with him (because we didn't take the hint the game gave us). We learn more about his story through the interaction we get, and we learn that his personality is simple. Dimitry is a sweet, caring man cursed by survivor's guilt. He's lonely, but he is unwilling to let go of the memory of Mary. Towards the end of the episode, Dimitry gives you the date outfit for the episode. He also opens up enough to admit he's feeling weak after only feeding from animals so long. This leads to the make or break decision. So, yes, it is possible to mess it up. The answer to his request is obvious, so it's near impossible to make a mistake. The illustration can be found else where online, and there's a reason the Sucrette looks uncertain. The conversation leading up to that moment is touching, if your Sucrette decides to be self-sacrificing for him. Of course, the episode ends with a "maybe it was just a dream" moment, and the final words are "Back to reality." Though there is a little bit of a "What happened to the mouse?" moment in that the game never actually tells you if our dear Sucrette managed to get her text books to study. The episode is different. It feels a little sad, considering it is from Amour Sucre, which normally doesn't have lingering depressed moments. It's cliched, but what about this game isn't, really? Overall, it's just a fun little break from the frustrations of the proper game (like if you can't seem to find the character you need to validate an objective or took a giant misstep in the name of curiosity and can't figure out how to climb out of the hole). My brother and I are quite distractible. We originally joined Amour Sucre to learn more about certain characters, but we found out that the special episode rings were bought with AP rather than in game currency. So, we decided to use the less abundant, somewhat rare resource to satisfy our curiosity. We're not sure about paying $11.20 for 350 action points over at AS, but it sure is tempting to get the other rings. I've yet to hear anything about the Christmas/Winter episode, and between the two of us, we actually know very little about the Spring/Easter episode. So, we're putting off being a source of normal spoilers to check out the extra episodes. Sorry about that. Anyway, maybe on Tiefling's next day off, we'll conclude our guide for episode one. Of course, you can probably figure it out on your own. We'll get around to the more complicated stuff (like what you should actually say during the course of episode four) eventually. Playing around a little bit on Corazon de Melon has given us a bit of an idea, but if you want, we'll plow right through to episode four with Sophie for you guys. We've been saving up action points, so we may be able to make that mad dash. The latter half about the ghost can be quite draining on the affinity, if you aren't enitrely sure what to say. We can keep some notes to give you guys the ''Cliff's Notes ''version of the other chapters when handling the guys during episode two and three. It's totally up to you guys at this point, since we don't have that much of a preference. I hope you enjoyed the overview of the Halloween episode. If you have any questions about it (such as spoilers), we'll be willing to give answers (maybe on the spoilers, but most certainly on everything else). ~ Aasimar Category:Blog posts